Kiddushin, Daf Tet Vav, Part 4

Introduction

Earlier it was suggested that there is a tanna who does not learn from the repetition of the word sakhir. But the Talmud said that this was not the tanna who argued that the laws regarding a Hebrew slave who sells himself into slavery differ from those who was sold by the court. But if it is not this tanna, then who is it?

אלא מאן תנא דלא יליף שכיר שכיר האי תנא הוא דתניא (ויקרא כה, מא) ושב אל משפחתו וגו’ אמר ר"א בן יעקב במה הכתוב מדבר אי במוכר עצמו הרי כבר אמור אי בנרצע הרי כבר אמור הא אין הכתוב מדבר אלא במכרוהו ב"ד שתים ושלש שנים לפני היובל שהיובל מוציאו ואי ס"ד יליף שכיר שכיר למה לי נילף שכיר שכיר

Then which Tanna does not learn from the repetition of sakhir ? It is this Tanna, as it was taught: [And if your brother sells himself to you . . . he shall serve you till the years of Jubilee. And then . . . he shall return to his family (Leviticus 25:41): R. Eliezer b. Ya akov said: Of whom does the verse speak? If of him who sells himself, then it was already stated. If of him whose ear was bored, that too was already stated.

Thus Scripture must refer [here] to one whom the court sold two or three years before Jubilee, that the Jubilee takes him out of slavery.

Now, should you think that he [R. Eliezer b. Ya akov] learns from the repetition of the word sakhir, why is it [the verse cited] necessary; let him learn from the repetition of the word sakhir ?

R. Eliezer b. Ya akov asks which slave is referred to when the verse says that he goes free at the Jubilee. The one who sells himself was already stated earlier in the same passage (Leviticus 25:40). If it refers to one who had his ear bored (meaning he sold himself into slavery and now is serving for life), this too was also stated (later on it will be explained where). Therefore it must refer to one who was sold by the court.

Now if he derived laws from the repetition of the word sakhir then we would not need this derashah. We could just learn that all of the laws in Leviticus apply to all the types of slaves, even those sold into slavery by the court. They all go free at the Jubilee.

אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק לעולם יליף שכיר שכיר ואיצטריך ס"ד אמינא מוכר עצמו הוא דלא עבד איסורא אבל מכרוהו ב"ד דעבד איסורא אימא ניקנסיה קמ"ל

R. Nahman b. Yitzchak said: In the end, he does learn from the repetition of the word sakhir; But still [the verse quoted] is necessary, lest I would have thought that only he who sells himself, because he did not commit a transgression [goes free at the Jubilee]; but as for one sold by the court, who committed an transgression, I might say: Let him be punished [and not go free]; therefore he teaches us [that he is not].

R. Nahman b. Yitzchak says that R. Eliezer b. Ya akov does learn from the repetition of the word sakhir. But even with this repetition we might think that the one who is sold into slavery does not go free at the Jubilee because he committed a transgression stealing. This is why he was sold into slavery. Therefore, the verse emphasizes that even he, the thief, goes free at the Jubilee.